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History
Origins Britannia traces its cultural origins back to the attempted invasion of the British Isles by Julius Caesar in 55 BC. Caesar was met with strong resistance from the local Celtic tribes, who elected a "super-leader," the Celtic King Eowyn, who became the founder of the imperial family. The election of the king and the repulsion of the Romans is the starting date of "Ascension Throne Britannia," the universal dating system in Code Geass, which is similar to the Gregorian calendar of our world, though dated fifty-five years earlier. This would place the date of the invasion of Japan, in 2010 a.t.b., in our 1955, and the events of the series in our 1962 and 1963. (In actual history, Caesar's invasion failed, but was followed by a successful invasion by Claudius.) It is not stated if the current imperial family (that of Charles) traces its genealogy back to Eowyn, or if the British Isles remained independent of Roman rule during the course of their history or if they were also able to repel the invasions of barbarians, i.e., if the Britannians are the descendants of Celts or if they are Anglo-Saxons as the British of our world are. It is also not clear what effect the Viking and Norman invasions in the Middle Ages had on the British Isles in Code Geass, or if they occurred at all. (In actual history, the invasion of Germanic tribes, notably the Saxons, pushed the Celtic peoples of the British Isles out of what we know as England, into Wales and Scotland.) Early Modern Era The exact details of Britannia's growth up until the modern period is only heard in bits and pieces in the entire Code Geass universe, and not entirely in the anime. During the reign of Elizabeth I (which would presumably be dated as 1613-1658 a.t.b rather than 1558-1603 AD), the queen remained unmarried, but bore a son, the father of whom is never publicly identified, though candidates were Sir Robert Dudly, the 1st Earl of Leicester, Sir Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Carl, the Duke of Britannia. Each of these men would use this knowledge to garner influence and power in the country. Elizabeth I's son ascended to the throne as Henry IX upon the death of his mother in 1658 (our 1603). His ascension was said to mark the beginning of "the Golden Age of the Tudor dynasty." (In actual history, Elizabeth I died childless as the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.) Britannia's history drastically diverges from our timeline during the "Age of Revolutions," starting with the failure of the American Revolutionary War in the 1830s (our 1770s), which is known as "Washington's Rebellion" in the history of Code Geass. The revolution failed because Benjamin Franklin was bribed off by the Duke of Britannia with the title of earl. George Washington and the Continental Army suffered a crippling defeat at the battle of Yorktown, at which point control of the North American colonies by Britannia was assured. The colonial possessions of "Britannia" at this time are not clear in relation to our British Empire; it is not made clear if Britannia ever colonized the Indian Subcontinent (as China controls it at the beginning of the series) or if it was ever an active colonial power in Africa. It seems that Britannia's most important overseas possessions were in North America. The Age of Revolution As the "Age of Revolution" reached its peak, many of the old monarchies in Europe were overthrown, but Henry X of Britannia retained an absolute monarchy. The greatest of these revolutions at the time was the French Revolution, which eventually produced the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was Napoleon who orchestrated the greatest formative event which resulted in the creation of the Holy Britannian Empire. A decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar allowed Napoleon to invade the British Isles and occupy London. Napoleon's invasion of the British Isles advanced to the point that, in 1862 (our 1807), Queen Elizabeth III was forced to retreat to Edinburgh, where a local revolutionary group arrested her and forced her to abdicate the throne, ending the monarchy over the British Isles. This event came to be known as the "Humiliation of Edinburgh." (In actual history, the French invasion fleet suffered a crippling defeat at Trafalgar to Admiral Nelson.) However, Sir Ricardo von Britannia, Duke of Britannia, and his friend and subordinate Sir Richard Hector, Knight of One, led a retreat with Elizabeth III and the remaining loyalists in the British Isles to the North American colonies, establishing a capital on the east coast. In 1868 (our 1813), Elizabeth III died childless, nominating Ricardo von Britannia as her successor on her deathbed. It was at this time that the "Ascension Throne Britannia" calendar was established. Though Napoleon successfully conquered the British Isles, his rule over Europe ran into popular discontent and culminated in his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1876 (our 1821, which occurred in 1815 in our timeline). Napoleon died on his way back to France; it is rumored that he was poisoned by agents who were acting in accordance with Elizabeth III's will. With the departure of Napoleon and his imperial ambitions from history, a new Europe-spanning empire with democratic ideals arose, and would later become the modern Euro Universe. Over time, the EU would grow to encompass all of Europe, including the whole of Russia, and Africa, and would for centuries be the bitter enemy of Elizabeth III's followers in North America. Development and Expansion By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the "Britannians" were essentially the defeated remains of the absolutist aristocracy of the British Isles who had retreated to their colonial holdings in North America following the loss of their original homeland. Even before the Napoleonic Wars, the Britannian aristocracy had utterly reject all notions of democracy that were put forth by the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution, instead embracing absolutism like that of the Tudor dynasty. Their humiliating defeat and exile only further embittered the Britannians, causing them to fully embrace a national ethos of revanchism. The resulting Holy Britannian Empire, while geographically centered in the area of our United States and descended from our British Empire, is analogous to neither of these political entities, instead being an odd mix of North American Tories (pro-British colonials, or loyalists, from the Revolutionary era) and imperial British aristocrats. The small population of "Britannian" nobles had reached a critical low point, having a very small core population, but were determined to rebuild their former power in North America, and began and aggressive campaign of conquest. Presumably this campaign began as events analogous to our Manifest Destiny, but clearly eventually grew to stretch across both North and South America, presumably seizing former European colonial regions such as the empires of Mexico and Brazil. After being pushed to the edge of oblivion, the Britannians now saw international politics as a fight for survival, and rapidly rebuilt themselves into a world power by dominating the rest of the Americas. Each new region that was conquered appears to be designated as an "Area," and its indigenous population as "Numbers" named after their Area (i.e., Area 11 and the Elevens). However, it is not explicitly stated what parts of North and South America make up the Britannian Homeland; it could form North America, or just the original colonies, or the whole of the Americas. It is therefore difficult to place exactly what regions are Areas prior to the incorporation of Area 11 (Japan) into the empire. Because the original core population of Britannians was so small, a very stratified and highly classist social hierarchy was established, in which the extremely small minority of "pureblood" Britannians (who were descended from the original British aristocrats who fled to North America) ruled over the "honorary Britannians" (who held a mid-level social position. At the very bottom were the Numbers, the conquered peoples who lived in segregated ghettos similar to those of Nazi Germany, practically as slaves. "Britannian" as an ethnicity seems to be a rather loose term, as aristocrats and ordinary citizens of different races are seen together. It may be that Britannian society cares more about national identity than racial identity, or that, over time, Areas are slowly accepted as legitimate parts of the empire and not as colonies and their indigenous people come to be considered ethnic Britannians. Numbers can also apply for honorary citizenship, but are still treated as second-class citizens or even slaves and generally occupy working-class positions in much the same way as many minorities in our United States. When Charles Darwin proposed his Theory of Evolution, which was later appropriated by the philosophy of Social Darwinism, it readily caught on in Britannia. The idea that conflict and competition promoted growth, that those who conquered and subjugated other peoples were justified in doing so, was well-accepted by Britannians. They saw it as the ultimate justification for their struggle to claw back from the brink of extinction and over the decades turn themselves into a world power again, and for their campaign of survival, conquest, and, ultimately, revenge. The Holy Britannian Empire utterly embraced Social Darwinism not only as a national ethos and mentality, but even as something akin to a state religion; Charles Darwin came to be referred to as Saint Darwin, as an example, and the Emperor Charles may very well have been named after the naturalist. The subjugation and oppression of non-Britannians became a systematically applied set of negative virtues, which brought about the act of Britannia "reforming itself along Prussian lines" as the society became almost entirely dedicated to the military effort and further conquests. By the time of the (unspecified) World Wars in the mid-20th century, the Holy Britannian Empire had already become one of the three superpower nations that controlled a third of the planet, the other two being the Euro Universe and the Chinese Federation. Of note is the fact that the three superpowers are similar in their geographic composition to the three superpowers of Nineteen Eighty-Four: Oceania (Britannia), Eurasia (Euro Universe), and Eastasia (Chinese Federation). By the time of the invasion of Japan, from their homeland in North America, Britannia controlled the whole of the Americas, as well as--depending on different versions of the manga that do not contradict the main storyline--New Zealand, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Conquest of Japan The rare mineral, sakuradite, became increasingly valuable as more and more modern military technolgy relied upon it; the superconductive properties of it resulted in technological miniaturization which allowed for the development of such machines as Knightmare Frames. Unfortunately for Britannia, 70% of the world's sakuradite came from reserves located in Japan. While not being part of the three superpowers, Japan was able to maintain its independence and economic superiority by manipulating sakuradite supplies to each of the three superpowers to maintain a balance of power; essentially, if any one superpower tried to invade Japan and seize its sakuradite reserves, it would give them such an advantage that the other two powers would have to attack it instantly or risk annihilation. Consequently, no one superpower was willing to risk a world war by conquering Japan, even though each of them was perfectly capable of doing so. In 2010 a.t.b., after the conquest of Area 10 by Britannia (in some versions the Indochinese Peninsula), Japan decided to align with the policies of the Chinese Federation and Euro Universe and apply economic pressure upon Britannia, an event which came to be referred to as the Oriental Incident; all three factions blockaded Britannian ports in an attempt to force negotiations. The plan backfired, though, as Britannia instead invaded Japan on August 10th in the Second Pacific War. Lasting only a month, Britannia conquered Japan thanks to the large-scale implementation of fourth-generation Knightmares as weapons of war, whose combination of mobility and firepower gave them a complete advantage over the more standard main battle tanks of Japan. The conquered island nation was renamed Area 11, and its citizens "Elevens." Britannia accomplished this feat without retaliation from the EU and the Chinese Federation thanks to clever political manipulation: Britannia divided the sakuradite production of Japan into thirds and evenly distributed it among the three superpowers. More sakuradite was produced overall as the Japanese no longer had any say in the matter, such as the exploitation of sakuradite deposits under Mt. Fuji which caused the sacred mountain to be defaced in pursuit of the mineral. Britannia wisely gave the other two superpowers equal shares in the stockpiles of sakuradite, essentially bribing them out of war or even allying with each other. A major reason as to why the war ended so abruptly was the apparent suicide of the Japanese Prime Minister, Genbu Kururugi (actually his murder by his son, Suzaku Kururugi|). Though Japan had been militarily defeated, it had not completely surrendered and was prepared to mount a do-or-die resistance against Britannia; ironically, this meant that Britannia had never actually broken Japan or even really demoralized its population beyond hope, and its industrial and economic capacities were never completely destroyed. This meant that Area 11 was never a fully pacified occupation sector for Britannian forces, which may account at least in part for the rather brutal treatment of Elevens by Britannians such as the massacres at the Shinjuku and Saitama ghettos in 2017 a.t.b.